Thanks to a spectacular second half, the Golden State Warriors (46-14) are beating Oklahoma City Thunder (34-27) in the second half. In the 112:80 victory (BOXSCORE) the Dubs close their own basket after the break tea, while Kevin Durant and Co. on the other side three by three.
So much firepower on both sides and yet the defense set the tone in the beginning minutes. Both the Thunder and the Warriors had to contend with problems in the first quarter, which was mainly due to the high intensity of the defences. This meant that no team was able to break away at first.
The second section continued in a similar fashion. The Dubs even stayed without a point in the middle of the passage for four minutes. After a time-out from head coach Steve Kerr, however, the hosts exploded with a 7-0 run, taking the lead and control. Suddenly the ball moved much better through its own rows and the throws began to fall. With a 52:45 the Warriors finally went into the half-time break.
The better start into the second half was made by the Thunders. Thanks to Russell Westbrook, the guests started an 11-0 run. The game was turned again. However, it didn’t take long for the Warriors and the fans in the Oracle Arena to regain the upper hand again.
The Dubs responded with their own 9-0 run, and towards the end of the round they even set themselves down to 18 points (82:66) with several thirds from Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Nick Young as well as a strong lockdown defense. From the point of view of the Thunders, things did not get any better in the final section.
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Young remained red-hot from downtown, while Draymond Green set the exclamation mark on the scoring explosion of the Dubs with a crashing dark. All of a sudden the hosts’ lead was 24 points, so the game was over.
Best man was Durant, who scored 28 points (10/20 FG) and took 5 rebounds. Stephen Curry also convinced with his strong offense (21 points, 9 rebounds), while Young (16 points, +23 points) and Iguodala (7 points, 7 assists, +29) provided important impulses from the bank. Klay Thompson had problems with his throw (11 points, 1/11 threesome), but in some situations he showed a strong defensive power.
Speaking of problems with the throw: Paul George caught a pitch black evening against the Warriors and scored only 5 points (1/14 FG, 1/9 threesomes). Carmelo Anthony (14 points, 6/17FG), Steven Adams (14 points, 7 rebounds) and Russell Westbrook (15 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists) did better. In the end, however, this was far from enough to win the third consecutive victory against spectacular Warriors.
Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder: Click here for the BOXSCORE!
Kevin Durant. Durantula was present in the decisive phases of both the second and third quarters. Of his 28 points, Durant scored 13 in the second and 9 in the third section. He also convinced with his individual defense.
Paul George. His One-on-One-Defense was beyond any doubt that night, but the 27-year-old’s offensive was absolutely nothing. George only hit one of his 15 field throw attempts and scored only 5 thin spots.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr at the start of the game criticised his team’s poor performance in both the offense and the defense. After the Dubs failed to score points in the middle of the second quarter for more than four minutes, Kerr took a break – and apparently found exactly the right words. After this time-out, the Warriors were unrecognizable: In the offense, the ball suddenly ran wonderfully through the rows, until the open-minded man was found (36 assists with 42 field goals!), with numerous backdoor cuts they repeatedly added to the Thunder-Defense. On the other hand, they forced some ball losses and always had a hand in the attacker’s face. The Dubs made the run in the second quarter possible as well as the decisive run in the third section.